Blog Post

Moral clarity is essential, especially during crises. No history, no narrative, no sense of injustice, however burning, can justify the deliberate slaughter of civilians. The Israelis whom Hamas murdered weren’t the collateral damage of a military offensive; they weren’t intertwined with military targets; they were civilians going about their lives. They were the victims of uncontrolled rage and a distorted ideology.

Former congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, a megaphone for the women’s movement, the first woman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee and a liberal Democrat known for her barbed wit, notably coining the term “Teflon president” to lambaste President Ronald Reagan, died March 13 at a hospital in Celebration, Fla. She was 82.

Bill sponsored by 100+ Members would fulfill Biden pledge to end tax incentives for big multinational corporations to ship jobs overseas

Washington, D.C.—Just now, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), member of the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, filed the Taxpayer Research and Contributions Knowledge (TRACK) Act (H.R. 885) to provide taxpayers easy access to an accounting of how their investments in pharmaceutical research and development are spent and the corresponding terms of federal funding agreements. This legislation comes as vaccine manufacturers prepare to increase COVID-19 vaccine prices, including for the Moderna vaccine which was developed almost exclusively with taxpayer funds.

This is the fourth Congress in a row that Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) are rolling out their proposal to ramp up taxes on corporations’ offshore income.

Weather interference with my morning flight from Austin has significantly delayed my gaining access to whatever materials Ways and Means Committee Chair Neal is making available pursuant to section 6103.  However, in reviewing extensive prior New York Times (NYT) reporting, much of the story about Trump tax shenanigans including 10 of 15 years paying no taxes and various foreign entanglements has already been told.  

A number of our neighbors have been asking me about what happens when the new Congress convenes on January 3—and, particularly, whether the narrow Republican House majority (222 Republicans to 212 Democrats, with one vacancy) offers any hope for more bipartisan cooperation, and whether Kevin McCarthy will be elected as the next Speaker. I offer this update on what we know so far and what we can expect.